First impressions from a long time Helix user

rog

rog

Inspired
As it said in the subject line, I've been using the Helix, and have been in the Line 6 ecosystem, for quite some time. One of my best friends is a guitar tech (Steve Howe, Adrian Belew, Al Dimeola, currently Pat Metheny) who was working with an artist who used the Helix, and he recommended it to me (thus offering himself up as free tech support). I've used it in a couple of different form factors (Helix floor and Helix rack), and also used the HX Stomp. I used them for years, really learned how they work, and was a beta tester for the last couple of years (more because I'm a software engineer, and have a QA background than due to any great proficiency as a guitarist, which I don't have at all). It's been a great experience, but...I have exactly zero brand loyalty, and was looking for a change from the form factor that I have been using for the last two years (the rack version), and didn't really want to buy another Helix Floor, so when the FM9 was announced, I decided to come over to this side of the street, and see what the fuss was all about.

My FM9 arrived on Friday, and I spent the better part of the afternoon proving all the management types right about remote work, completely ignoring my job and playing with the FM9. I went through all of the presets, not really playing, just a couple chords to see what each one sounded like. This took hours. And over the weekend I did very little playing, instead going through Cooper Carter's FM9 masterclass, mainly focusing on modules 2.1 (top panel overview) and 2.2 (footswitch overview), which also took quite a bit of time, as I was taking notes (8 pages!) and going back, trying each thing he demonstrated.

I did finally do some playing, though, going through the patches (I've not attempted to build any patches yet), just trying to get a feel for it. And this is what I liked and disliked*.

Things I liked, in no particular order:

  • Fit and finish - the first thing I noticed as I took it out of the box, it feels every bit as solid as the Line 6 stuff. The buttons and switches all feel great, as well.
  • Form factor - this type of floor unit fits me, right now.
  • Stock patches - a lot of great, usable stuff, right out of the box. There are two things that I don't understand Line 6's thinking about, their ridiculous stock patches, and the decision to not put great hardware meters on their devices, which brings me to
  • Meters! - both hardware and software, you can't give me enough meters, but Fractal sure did try. I think the meters that show the output on each step of the signal chain is an especially nice touch
  • Reverbs - one thing I noticed, as I went through the stock patches, the reverbs are insane. When I first got my first Helix, the reverbs were ok, not great...but later they did bring some nice ones in. But the Fractal reverbs are significantly better.
  • Blues Jr! - I don't know why it makes me happy that the Fractal has a Blues Junior in and amongst its amp models, but it does.
  • Cooper Carter - a huge hat tip for the videos he put together for this unit.
Things I didn't like as much:
  • Gaps between scenes - this surprised me a little bit; I expected this to work much more like the Helix snapshots, with totally gapless switching from one snapshot to the other. I expect there are ways of mitigating this, but if not, that is something that I will miss.
  • Speaking of scenes, I noticed as I scrolled through the patches that some patches weren't on the first scene, I would change it to the first scene, switch to a new preset, then switch back, and find that it was back on the scene that I switched it from. I'm assuming that you can set a default scene when you create multiple scenes for a preset, but it was triggering my OCD a little.
  • It's very complex. This is something I expected, and something that I also dealt with in the Line 6 world, but I took the slow road to mastery with the Helix, and it's been a while since I've had to do any real digging into manuals to figure out how and why things work. The slow road to mastery begins again.
  • This is my fault - there were several patches that stood out to me, as I went through the stock patches. But I didn't write down the patch numbers, and I can't remember what they were. :-(
I can't say that the amp models are better or worse than the Helix, as I sold mine before the FM9 arrived and can't compare them side by side. I will say, however, that out of the box, it's a very impressive tool, with a couple things that I already like better (still drooling over those reverbs, and absolutely love the footswitch layouts - they make so much sense). I had the sounds that I hear in my head with the Helix, I'm sure I'll be able to get them again with the FM9, and I'm wondering if those sounds will be better. Impossible to have a real comparison, since the Helix is gone (and I've not kept a backup of the patches), and by the time I've gotten to the point where I've developed some patch building chops, I'll be a different, hopefully better guitarist. Also, I don't really care about comparisons...Linux vs Mac, iOS vs Android, Line 6 vs Fractal...I just don't give a shit. This is the tool that I have now, this is what I'll be focusing on, and I'm very much looking forward to learning more about how to use it.

* I understand that Fractal users can be very...protective of the Fractal line. My dislikes are nothing more than first impressions, and will probably dissipate as I develop a better understanding of the Fractal way of doing things.
 
rog said:
Speaking of scenes, I noticed as I scrolled through the patches that some patches weren't on the first scene, I would change it to the first scene, switch to a new preset, then switch back, and find that it was back on the scene that I switched it from. I'm assuming that you can set a default scene when you create multiple scenes for a preset, but it was triggering my OCD a little.
Click to expand...
Yes, you can set the global setting for Default Scene to a specific scene number or As Saved.

However, it does seem a bit surprising that any factory presets would not default to scene 1.
 
unix-guy said:
Yes, you can set the global setting for Default Scene to a specific scene number or As Saved.

However, it does seem a bit surprising that any factory presets would not default to scene 1.
Click to expand...
I just fired it up and scrolled through to confirm that, and patch 004: Double Verb was the first one to come up like that. It's default is 2, which is described as "Normal", with scene 1 being "Silverface".
 
rog said:
  • Gaps between scenes - this surprised me a little bit; I expected this to work much more like the Helix snapshots, with totally gapless switching from one snapshot to the other. I expect there are ways of mitigating this, but if not, that is something that I will miss
Click to expand...

Since scenes aren’t quite the same as snapshots, you can use them in ways that introduce gaps, whereas snapshots don’t allow you to make transitions that would cause gaps. Scene controllers are in some ways a closer analog to snapshots. In any case, there are various strategies to avoid gaps. That’s just the way it is with FAS devices.

rog said:
* I understand that Fractal users can be very...protective of the Fractal line.
Click to expand...

You’ve already learned the most important thing to know about this forum :).
 
rog said:
I understand that Fractal users can be very...protective of the Fractal line. My dislikes are nothing more than first impressions, and will probably dissipate as I develop a better understanding of the Fractal way of doing things.
Click to expand...

While that's probably true, we also discuss bugs and feature requests. It is a Fractal-owned forum. I don't know if you can go onto the Line 6 forum and start talking about how Fractal is better....but, I think a lot of us both believe that Fractal is "best" and also that "best" does not imply "perfect."

GlennO said:
Since scenes aren’t quite the same as snapshots, you can use them in ways that introduce gaps, whereas snapshots don’t allow you to make transitions that would cause gaps. Scene controllers are in some ways a closer analog to snapshots. In any case, there are various strategies to avoid gaps. That’s just the way it is with FAS devices.
Click to expand...
Yeah, that.

Some scene changes are going to be gapless. Others aren't. Among other things, if you change channels on many blocks, there's no way for there not to be a gap unless it fudges something under the hood, which it doesn't. Same thing if you use the wrong bypass mode for your application.

For most things, you can probably get what you want. I find the biggest problems (and weirdest behaviors) are when you change channels on delay & reverb blocks....but, that's probably because of how I set it up.
 
Thanks for the feedback Roj. It's great to hear.

unix-guy said:
a bit surprising that any factory presets would not default to scene 1.
Click to expand...
Why? What if Scene 2 is the most tasty or most signature, but the logical ordering of scenes makes sense e.g. Clean, Rhythm, Lead (ex: 0090 Bludojai) Remember also that these presets have evolved. In many cases, a new and improved Scene 2 or 3 sounds great, but the importance of a Legacy scene 1 still matters.
 
Admin M@ said:
Thanks for the feedback Roj. It's great to hear.


Why? What if Scene 2 is the most tasty or most signature, but the logical ordering of scenes makes sense e.g. Clean, Rhythm, Lead (ex: 0090 Bludojai) Remember also that these presets have evolved. In many cases, a new and improved Scene 2 or 3 sounds great, but the importance of a Legacy scene 1 still matters.
Click to expand...
That's a good point.

I guess I assumed they would be consistent in starting on Scene 1.
 
unix-guy said:
I guess I assumed they would be consistent in starting on Scene 1.
Click to expand...
When I build presets, for whatever reason, my clean setting is on scene 1, and they get progressively heavier/more-distorted, and then, if there's an ambient-type scene it's last. I'm probably thinking of how my physical amps are laid out, with the "clean" channel first followed by a distorted/dirty one. Since I usually treat my presets as if they're single-channel amps I default to the "crunch" or a gain scene because I pretty much live on it.

From what I've seen, many of the factory presets have their own scene progression, probably based on the same concept of the front-panel of the original amp, and "dry" or minor variations of a scene being last. When we were working on the factory presets we didn't change the initial scene order and I tried to keep the default scene as it was. It's like it's some sort of digital evolution. :)

PS - Oh, and there are the presets where the trailing scenes aren't really scenes, instead, the name of the scene was used as a note field, often a reminder that expression 1 is the Wah or volume or similar.
 
marsonic said:
While that's probably true, we also discuss bugs and feature requests. It is a Fractal-owned forum. I don't know if you can go onto the Line 6 forum and start talking about how Fractal is better....but, I think a lot of us both believe that Fractal is "best" and also that "best" does not imply "perfect."
Click to expand...
This is exactly why I included the disclaimer - it was at the beginning of a pros and cons list, and I was clarifying that what I was listing as "cons" were probably more my lack of familiarity with the product than anything else. I thought that was necessary, because I pointed out that I come from a Helix/Line 6 background, but I also pointed out that I'm not really interested in comparing.

At this point, I feel like I can say I think the Fractal is probably better, that once I fully learn how to use it, I'll get a better sound from my FM9 than I got with my Helix. There will still be some things that I don't like, and even some things that I liked better about the Helix, but that doesn't diminish my enthusiasm for this product at all.
 
rog said:
This is exactly why I included the disclaimer - it was at the beginning of a pros and cons list, and I was clarifying that what I was listing as "cons" were probably more my lack of familiarity with the product than anything else. I thought that was necessary, because I pointed out that I come from a Helix/Line 6 background, but I also pointed out that I'm not really interested in comparing.

At this point, I feel like I can say I think the Fractal is probably better, that once I fully learn how to use it, I'll get a better sound from my FM9 than I got with my Helix. There will still be some things that I don't like, and even some things that I liked better about the Helix, but that doesn't diminish my enthusiasm for this product at all.
Click to expand...

Sounds familiar. I've used a Helix but never owned one and spent the most Helix-y time on Native. As a rule, I don't like guitar plugins, despite flat-out preferring plugins to hardware for other things due to workflow. I essentially came from DSM Simplifiers, which I really liked as a simple amp-less rig.

You probably will find things you like better about each. For me, the big thing with Fractal is the speaker impedance curve (in the speaker tab of the amp block). It's one of the big things that sets fractals apart for me. The IRs are just EQ curves (and reverb, if they're long enough and created that way...most of the factory ones are close mic'd, so no reverb). The SIC changes the (simulated) load on the output transformer, which changes how the amp responds. It's worth playing with when you get a chance. There aren't that many of them....enough to hear real differences but not so much that you'll get overwhelmed. They can match the cab IR you're using (pretty close) but don't have to.
 
rog said:
Gaps between scenes - this surprised me a little bit; I expected this to work much more like the Helix snapshots, with totally gapless switching from one snapshot to the other. I expect there are ways of mitigating this, but if not, that is something that I will miss.
Click to expand...
I just got mine today, but still at work. It's my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong, that if using the same amp or effect in all block channels and just using scenes to change settings, then scene changes are gapless (kind of like in Helix, I also come from Helix world). However, if you have a different amp in each channel, then switching scenes that change amp channels will have a gap.

I think this can be mask with verbs and/or delays, but in any case having 4 different amps in a block is not doable in Helix either anyway. You would need to change presets...
 
Sergius9 said:
I just got mine today, but still at work. It's my understanding and correct me if I'm wrong, that if using the same amp or effect in all block channels and just using scenes to change settings, then scene changes are gapless (kind of like in Helix, I also come from Helix world). However, if you have a different amp in each channel, then switching scenes that change amp channels will have a gap.

I think this can be mask with verbs and/or delays, but in any case having 4 different amps in a block is not doable in Helix either anyway. You would need to change presets...
Click to expand...
Yeah, what was throwing me was that there were gaps in between pretty much every scene I tried on the stock presets.

So if I have a preset where I'm using the same amp all the way through it, as though the real world scenario was that I was plugged into an amp, and doing nothing but spinning the dials, should that be gapless?

Obviously I still haven't gotten around to setting up any patches of my own - that starts this weekend. Hopefully.
 
Greg Ferguson said:
PS - Oh, and there are the presets where the trailing scenes aren't really scenes, instead, the name of the scene was used as a note field, often a reminder that expression 1 is the Wah or volume or similar.[/hr]
Click to expand...

Great idea! I never use than 4 scenes so I will start doing this.
 
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rog said:
Yeah, what was throwing me was that there were gaps in between pretty much every scene I tried on the stock presets.

So if I have a preset where I'm using the same amp all the way through it, as though the real world scenario was that I was plugged into an amp, and doing nothing but spinning the dials, should that be gapless?

Obviously I still haven't gotten around to setting up any patches of my own - that starts this weekend. Hopefully.
Click to expand...
yes if it's the same amp you should be much happier
 
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rog said:
So if I have a preset where I'm using the same amp all the way through it, as though the real world scenario was that I was plugged into an amp, and doing nothing but spinning the dials, should that be gapless?
Click to expand...

That's not quite right. If it's the same channel, you'll have no gap. If it's a different channel when you switch scenes, even if it's the same amp, you'll get a small gap. But, you have two amp blocks, so you can always cross fade between them to eliminate gaps when switching amp channels. You can even switch through a sequence of up to 8 amp channels without gaps.
 
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